Karumetou
by Ilovethingsobsessively
Summary: Eloise, a Professor of Literature, is called back to help the FBI, to try and catch 'The Black Cat'. There she meets Hannibal Lecter, a therapist with refined taste. (Written for my friend of mine) (Murders inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's works) (Does not follow NBC Hannibal's plot but there may be references to it)
1. Chapter 1

Eloise paced in the empty room, the sound of her short heels ricocheted off the floor filling the otherwise silent room with a dull rhythm. Everyone had left, she had finished teaching for the day. There was nothing for her to do, all she knew was that she was hungry, she had brought food with her but in all honesty she wasn't the greatest cook.

Music filled the room, bringing Eloise to a halt. She turned towards the source, it seemed to be coming from her desk. As she walked closer she realised it was her phone. She checked the caller identity, it was Jack Crawford an old friend and former colleague.

-Hello.

-Eloise, sorry to call at such a time, but we've got a problem.

-It's okay. I was just about to eat pizza.

-I know how much you love pizza, but this is important. They're back

-They?

-The Black Cat

As soon as those words were said, Eloise's senses heightened dread crawled into every crevice of her body, slowly filling it up and taking over.

-I'm on my way, where are you?

-20 minutes away from the university go straight ahead and then take the second left.

Eloise hurriedly ate a slice of her slightly burnt pizza before, grabbing her bag and car keys. She quickly walked to the car park, trying to avoid walling into anyone and not tripping over her own feet.

After a short drive, involving hardly any traffic. She arrived at the scene, a house with maroon coloured bricks. The door was wooden and had multiple scratches, it's handle was extremely rusty. Inside there was a long hallway, it's walls had cream-coloured wallpaper but it was peeling off. Jack stood at the end of the hallway, hearing Eloise's footsteps he turned.

"It's good to have you back." Jack grinned.

Eloise smiled "It's good to be back."

"At the moment, Will Graham is in the room the crime took place, so in the meantime we're down here." Jack informed her.

Eloise nodded entering the room they stood in front of. The room looked like a kitchen, there was a large sink cabinet that stood in front of a large window that looked out into a small garden, next to the sink cabinet there was a fridge that had a variety of magnets, in the middle of the room a square wooden dining table stood with four chairs tucked neatly beneath it.

"Eloise, I missed you." Beverly Katz exclaimed walking towards her.

"I missed you, too." Eloise said excitedly.

They briefly hugged.

"Eloise!" two male voices simultaneously called to her.

Looking towards the corner it had came from, she realised it was Jimmy Price and Brian Zeller, or the 'two dorks' as she liked to call them.

They waved, very pleased to see her, after such a long time. She walked over, putting her hands in the air when she was in front of them, they reached out attempting to give her a high five but Eloise, Jimmy and Brian, all missed each others hands. Everyone in the room's shoulders began to shake in silent laughter, Brian could not contain it and he burst out laughing. Soon booming laughter filled the room, everyone's laughter urged on each others, Jimmy fell to floor clutching his stomach and the laughter got louder until everyone's ribs began to hurt. It had been a long time since they had all shared a good laugh together.

"It's so good to see you all." Eloise breathed, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Minutes later, the door opened Jack walked in along with two other men one had blonde hair swept to one side, he wore a suit and Eloise guessed he was a very rich man. The other man had brown curly hair and wore a more casual outfit, he was younger than the blonde haired man.

"Eloise, I'd like to introduce you to Will Graham," Jack said gesturing towards the curly haired man, who nodded at Eloise in greeting, Eloise returned the action "And Hannibal Lecter." Jack gestured towards the blonde hair man. Hannibal walked over to Eloise and put out his hand, Eloise took it his handshake was firm but gentle.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Eloise, I have heard many things about you." He greeted.

Eloise took note of how gentlemanly he was. They released each others hands.

"Well now that we all know each other, Eloise I'd like your input, follow me." Jack said.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack led Eloise upstairs to a room on the far side of the hallway. Upon entering the room, she saw the wall had been pried open, a corpse had been neatly placed within the wall's cavity. The corpse eyeballs had been removed in a precise manner.

"They've removed every part of the eyeball including all the muscles that they were attached to," Jack explained "This was found near the body."

Jack handed Eloise a slip of crumpled paper, written in black ink was:

"Did you miss us?-The Black Cat"

"There are no current fingerprints and they only left that note and this," Jack held up a scalpel like item "It seems they used this to assist them in removing the eyes."

Eloise nodded, trying to piece together the information she already knew.

What she knew was: The Black Cat was probably a cult and in previous crimes they tormented victims and left notes before and after the crime, a set for the victim and another supposedly for the FBI.

"Well, they probably left the scalpel as some sort of mockery towards us." Eloise stated, taking the scalpel into her own hands, it looked like a regular one found in a hospital. There was nothing special about it.

"Have you found any other notes? Eloise asked moving her attention from the scalpel to Jack.

"Jimmy found several others they're down stairs." Jack replied as he opened the door.

He walked down the hallway and descended the stairs. Eloise glanced back at the corpse, before pocketing the scalpel and quickly following Jack.


	3. Chapter 3

They returned to the kitchen-like room. Jimmy, Brian and Beverly were looking over the evidence they had already found. Will and Hannibal stood in the corner of the room, keeping their distance from everyone else. Eloise thought that they could kiss at any moment.

Jack went over to Brian and started discussing things to do with the murder. Eloise made her way to Beverly and whispered

"So, are they like an item?"

"Nope," Beverly whispered, stifling a laugh "Dr. Lecter is Will's therapist."

"That make sense." Eloise nodded looking towards the two men hoping they had not heard the conversation she had just had.

Hannibal turned towards Eloise and smiled, she graciously returned it, he seemed like a nice guy.

Eloise began looking over the notes, sorting through the ones she thought were for the victims and the ones she thought were for the FBI.

"What are you doing?" Hannibal asked walking up to Eloise from behind, he looked at the small notes on the table.

"I'm separating the ones I think are for the victim and the ones I think are for the FBI. Left for the victim, right for the FBI."

"May I?" Hannibal murmured he looked at her, while his hand hovered above the table.

"Go ahead." She smiled.

He looked over the notes, leaning over her he began rearranging the notes.

"What do you think?" Hannibal said, looking at Eloise for her approval.

Eloise nodded, looking at the rearranged notes.

"Okay, everyone, we'll leave it at that for today." Jack called out.

Everyone filed out the room, stretching and sighing, glad the day was finally over.

"Thank you for your help today, Dr. Lecter." Eloise beamed.

"It was a pleasure working with you." Hannibal insisted.

Everyone said their 'Goodbyes', before parting ways. Eloise sighed as she got into her car, she knew what she was getting into, but was she really ready to d this kind of thing again.


	4. Chapter 4

When Eloise arrived home exhaustion swept over her. She quickly took of her shoes and coat. She walked into her living room and lay down on her sofa, she tiredly stretched and gave a satisfied sigh. Her living room was an organised mess, full of books and paper, she could hardly see the floor. Reaching down she picked up the nearest book and began reading it. Luckily she hadn't read this book, that was a bad habit of hers she would buy books and never read them or she would start books and never finish them.  
Eloise finished the book in a couple of hours, she was a quick reader and she was thankful for that. Eloise felt a feeling of accomplishment wave over her, it had been an interesting book. She decided she would go and find out what other books the author had written, but first she needed to eat.  
Looking around the kitchen, she found hardly any food. The only thing she did find was crumpets. It would have to do, she put them in the toaster. While she waited, she heard her letter box open and what sounded like a letter hitting the floor.  
Eloise didn't know the postman came around this time, after all it was 8pm. She slowly walked to her front door, hoping it wasn't someone playing a prank. By her front door there was a large brown envelope, there was no return address on it.  
The envelope felt like a pillow with a paper case. As soon as Eloise opened the the letter, large black feathers poured onto the floor. Hidden among the feathers was a folded piece of paper.  
On the top right hand corner 'I know what you did." had been written. Paranoia and confusion took over Eloise's mind. She wasn't sure what she had done, she wondered if she had done something terrible without even knowing. Soon, her mind was swimming in questions.  
Eloise came to the conclusion that this was definitely a prank, still it didn't calm her nerves.  
Suddenly, it hit her, she had left her crumpets unattended.  
"My crumpets!" Eloise exclaimed, quickly running to her kitchen, hoping they hadn't gone cold.


End file.
